materialhandlingupdate BATTERIES AND CHARGERS
Systems Inc. (BHS) on the company’s website. Plumbing—
including drainage—will be needed for battery washing,
filling, and safety equipment, they add. You’ll also need a
heating and cooling system to control the room’s temperature; excessive heat or cold will shorten a battery’s life.
How big should the room be? That will depend on how
many vehicles and batteries you expect to service at one
time, the type and size of the lift trucks, and whether the
trucks will need to turn around inside
the room, as well as the type and
amount of battery handling and
charging equipment you plan to use,
says Jim Gaskell, director of customer
support for lift-truck manufacturer
Crown Equipment Corp.
When calculating floor space, try
thinking in terms of “the slot”—an
auto racing term for the space surrounding a vehicle, Gaskell suggests.
“Once the truck gets there, what kind
of space will it have? If you can’t walk
between trucks and still plug in the
cable, then drivers will start banging
trucks around to create their own
slots,” he says.
Leave enough space for both trucks and people to
maneuver. Cramming battery changers and other equipment too close together creates a safety risk for pedestrians,
says Tony Amato, vice president, sales and marketing for
IBP, a distributor of batteries, battery handling equipment,
and battery management systems. He’s seen battery rooms
where people were forced to walk in the same aisles used by
incoming and outgoing vehicles, creating a safety hazard.
Larger fleets often use multilevel charging systems to save
space. Some companies also find they can reduce the room’s
footprint by employing a combination of traditional and
opportunity chargers, Amato says. An analysis of battery
usage might show that you can accomplish the same work
with fewer batteries, offering yet another opportunity to
save space.
The inside story
Inside the battery room, one of the top concerns is traffic
flow. “If several drivers come in at once, the first may be able
to change in two minutes, but the tenth person waits 20
minutes,” notes Terry Orf, administrative vice president of
Materials Transportation Co. (MTC), a provider of battery
